Parenting advice powered by Lenny's podcast wisdom

The Champion Persona

April Dunford

Inspired by on Lenny's Podcast

A positioning expert says most companies obsess over the wrong personas - and parents make the same mistake thinking about who their kid is becoming.

April Dunford has positioned over 200 companies. She's watched marketing teams waste enormous energy on the wrong thing.

'In a typical B2B purchase process, we have between five and seven people involved in making the decision. But by far the most important persona that matters is the champion. If our positioning doesn't resonate for that champion, we're dead in the water.'

Companies build detailed personas for every stakeholder - IT, legal, purchasing, end users. But they miss the champion, the person who actually drives the decision.

'There's really only one persona that really, really matters, which is the champion in the account.'

Parents do this too. We worry about every teacher, coach, friend, relative - what will they think? But the champion persona for your kid's development is you. And maybe one or two others.

Stop spreading thin across every opinion. Focus your energy on the personas that actually matter in the decision.

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PM Theme: Positioning strategy

Parenting Theme: Focusing on what matters

Quotes that inspired this tip
In a typical B2B purchase process, we have between five and seven people involved in what we call making the decision for what gets bought. But by far the most important persona that matters is the champion. If our positioning doesn't resonate for that champion, we're dead in the water.April Dunford · 00:53:53
There's really only one persona that really, really matters in this, which is the champion in the account.April Dunford · 00:57:03
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